Blog Title: Doug Watching

Advent: The Cry of Desperation

Advent breaks into our satiated lives with a disturbing cry. Beneath the constant chaos of non-stop activity, we’re confronted with lonely, aching voice of desperation. Something is wrong. Our ingenuity cannot fix it. Our laughter cannot repress it. Our motion can silence it. The painful howls of Jeremiah echo across time, penetrating our cool pretension of comfort read more..

Advent Resources and more

Bosco Peters has an excellent site on the liturgical year that I’ll be referencing, and you might find helpful as well. Posted in Advent   Tagged: Advent, liturgical year   

Scrooge Living in Business Time

In my last post, I did not mean to suggest that business time is bad. The problem comes when we treat business time as exclusive time. We must earn an income as a part of supporting our families, but earning an income must not be understood as the exclusive means of supporting our families. We support read more..

Christmas Time vs Business Time

Some “times” we think that all time is the same time. This is one of the illusions of living “under” the rule of business time. What is business time?  We may speak of the normal business “hours” to indicate a 9 to 5 workday Monday through Friday. These “hours” and “days” are designated for business. read more..

It’s Christmas Time!

All the imax chatter about the sickening sprint for sales during this Christmas season, makes me think about a song Larry Norman released many years ago called, “Christmastime.” Decrying the shopping stupor that intoxicates so many of us during this season, Norman wrote, Santa Claus is commin’ and the kids are gettin’ greedy It’s Christmas time They read more..

Articulating the Future While the World Collapses

As reports of financial chaos echo through the world each day, we may begin to feel like Modern Romans watching our world collapse. I still think the world collapsed about 90 years ago, and the collapse has been rippling across institutions and nations every since. The church’s initial response to a modern notion of progress that read more..

The Year Has Known Conversion

As I gaze out upon my leaf-covered lawn, I am reminded, “the year has known conversion.” Bobi Jones wrote those words as he stepped out into a springtime bursting forth into new life, confessing, “energy is everywhere.” As he celebrates that “winter has gone to its fathers,” I watch winter return and begin overtaking the golden autumn afternoons with freezing read more..

Doug Watching at Panera

I’m sitting at Panera Bread thinking and watching. For the past several years, I’ve started my day at Panera or some other coffee shop. Each morning I read a few poems, sing the Psalms (ever so quietly under my breath) and read a few passages from Scripture. All the while I sit and watch and read more..

Praying for President Obama

The magnificent beauty of the day led me away from the quiet of lunchtime reading for a walk in the autumn sunlight. Gold and red and yellow leaves seemed to glow on the trees that lined the walkway and stood in bold contrast to the azure blue sky. The intensity of the changing season stirred read more..

Day of Thanksgiving

In the middle of yet another heated American election day, I received a call from a friend reminding me to pause and give thanks to God. As I thought about his simple reminder, this refrain from the ancient Israelites also came to mind: “Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy read more..